1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a base station of a cellular system and, more specifically, to apparatus and methods for monitoring a system environment of an outdoor base station.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional cellular systems, base stations are typically located within buildings or similar structures. Thus, there is little, if any, direct effect on base station operations due to variations in environmental conditions (e.g., rain, snow, etc). However, due to the increasing difficultly in securing indoor base stations, service providers have recognized the need for securing cost-efficient, yet reliable, outdoor base stations.
Thus, base stations have been installed on rooftops or other outdoor locations. However, since these base stations are directly exposed to environmental conditions, it is to be appreciated that monitoring such base stations during varying environmental conditions to ensure that they are operating normally is of great significance. Accordingly, environmental monitors for outdoor base stations have been developed. These conventional monitors have been located at the outdoor base station and perform functions such as temperature/moisture sensing, fire sensing, inundation sensing, and door open sensing. Thus, conventional monitors recognize the state of the system environment. The recognized state is processed as alarm information and is reported to an upper system which operates the maintenance and the repairing of outdoor base stations based on the reported information. The upper system may be, for example, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) of a Base Station Controller (BSC) which controls a Base Station Transceiver (BTS) system, or more specifically, a Base Station Manager (BSM) connected with a Mobile Switching Center (MSC). The BSM initializes, maintains, operates, and reviews operation of the BSC and BTS. Additionally, in the case that a BSM transmits the relative information, the upper system may also be an Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC). Moreover, in the case that an environment host is installed in place of an MSC, the environment host can be the upper system.
It is to be appreciated that even though a conventional monitor may recognize a fatal state of the system environment (i.e., a state where it is desirable to shutdown the power to certain equipment in the base station to prevent it from harm due to the environmental conditions; thus what is deemed a fatal condition may vary according to the robustness of the equipment), the monitor does not embody protective functions or features. Also, while variations of the system environment are reported to the upper system, the temperature and moisture levels of the system cannot be adjusted according to the variations. Thus, optimum operation of the system is not achieved.